Helping Communities Through Education

Recent events in Pakistan and Afghanistan

Good morning from sunny Cambridge and wishing you a happy Wednesday. Today we would like to summarize recent events that have taken place in either Afghanistan or Pakistan respectively, or events that involve both countries.

Afghanistan:

Afghanistan tries to use natural resources to gain American support

Under the new administration President Donald Trump has frightened many world leaders and their constituents, especially those who hail from or represent predominantly Muslim countries. Afghanistan has been made aware of that, and therefore the government is trying to harness support and grab attention of President Donald Trump by “dancing its massive and untouched wealth of minerals, including lithium the silvery metal used in mobile phone and computer batteries that is considered essential to modern life.” That is not all Afghanistan has to offer, in addition to the lithium it includes coal, copper, chromite, mercury, zinc, gems, including rubies and emeralds, as well as gold and silver.

Lithium and the mining of other raw materials and minerals could be extremely beneficial to Afghan’s, and potentially raise some much needed capital for the country. However, there is a catch. With the security situation in Afghanistan working and the Taliban seizing territory, it appears that the regions with the greatest lithium deposits are currently too dangerous to enter, let alone mine in. Despite the facts, Kabul and President Ashraf Ghani are hoping that they can catch Washington and President Trump’s attention, since the country has experienced enough turmoil and wants to have some recognition in the international community and give Afghanistan the credibility they need to revamp their image, especially to the United States and the new administration.

A deadly blast took place on Wednesday March 5th in the city of Lahore situated in East Pakistan. The blast was targeting the country’ first national census in nearly two decades, and it killed four army soldiers, nice air force member and a civilian. In addition to the casualties 17 others were wounded.

As mentioned in the previous blog post, there tensions between India and Pakistan have been escalating over the last few months. It has gotten to the point where Pakistan has started fencing off the border between the two countries for reasons of being concerned about national security. Afghanistan is calling on Pakistan to stop this, otherwise the fear is that they will resort to military action. Islamabad’s “assertions that militants are entering Pakistan from the Afghan side to launch terrorist attacks in the neighboring country (Afghanistan) as per ministry spokesman Mostaghani are inaccurate and an excuse on their part to not open borders back up.

Afghanistan has also stated that the closing of the border is “unjustified” since the Durand Line, the international border between Pakistan and Afghanistan established in 1896, serves both Pakistan and Afghanistan. Afghans are seeing the building of a fence as a violation of Afghanistan’s sovereignty but Pakistani officials argue that “the fencing is being undertaken “well within” their territory and once completed, will address mutual security concerns and improve understanding between the two countries.” Furthermore, Islamabad has also “dismissed Afghan objections over the international status of the Durand Line, saying Pakistan inherited it when the country gained independence from Britain in 1947.”